Over the course of many years as an architect, I’ve figured out that designing a home doesn’t begin with the style you want. In fact, no matter where you plan to build or what kind of home you envision, style is what I add at the end of the design process, not the beginning.

Every so often, new tools come along that make life so much easier. My wife and business partner, Liz, recently discovered a free* online note-taking program that works beautifully for creating an electronic style file.

Before I begin the design process, it’s important for me to understand what style you’re drawn to. I can’t begin to take pencil to paper until I’ve developed a sense of who you are and what elements resonate with you on the deepest levels. Absorbing impressions of your style is a chameleon-like exercise for me: It involves putting myself aside and focusing on you.

How do you choose an architect? And how does an architect choose you? Before embarking on a project as central to your family as your home, you must feel confident that the architect you’ve chosen is right for you and is fully engaged with your need and desires. For new homes, I’ve found that scheduling […]

  So what does it cost? Architects sometimes charge a fixed fee, but more typically it’s 12% to 15% of the construction cost. At my firm, for renovations, I always start out with a Design Consultation. For new construction projects, I schedule a free one-hour meeting to see if we’re right for each other. If […]